As you can see by my lack of blogs, there has been a bit of a inconsistency concerning wifi and access to internet. So I will do my best to sum up the past month and a half for you.
February was a month of history, culture, amazing views, and facing fears.
In Standfontein I stayed with a coloured family that taught me what life in Cape Town is like and made me laugh so much. They were very open about their opinions and experiences and truly made me feel at home. During my stay there, I went to the District 6 Museum, toured the parliament buildings, and shopped at the Green Market Square. I also saw Robben Island and watched seals on the waterfront. Another memorable experience there was going to Mannenburg, which is a township that is completely consumed by gangs, violence, and drug abuse. I was a shocking and heart wrenching.
After our home stay, we had a couple weeks of adventure and rest. We spent half a week in Bonnievale where we pretty much just played. The week started off by us floating down a river into bat caves. For the rest of our stay we did ropes courses, played slingshot paintball, fell 40 feet in a king swing, and swam and kayaked in the river. For the rest of the week we stayed in Jeffery's Bay where we galloped horses along the beach, surfed, and shopped. We also met up with a group called Global Challenge. They showed me about having a passion for Christ, they taught me about true, sincere kindness and they encouraged me to break Jesus out of the box I had once put him in by teaching me about the power of prophecy.
February the 25th. I jumped off the Bloukrans Bridge and fell for 216 meters at the speed of 120km/h.
Our next place of sort term residence was Mdumbi, a small Xhosa village in the transkei. It was a beautiful and secluded area. We had a beach all to ourselves where we tanned, swam, and did beach olympics. We would have used it much more if it didn't rain as often. One of the days we spent hiking to Coffee Bay, which was one of the most beautiful places I've been to. We spent the week having sessions about knowing yourself. These sessions included financing, knowing your inner critic, love languages, and some community building time. Nathan Rieger also joined us for this week and talked to us a lot about being a broken gift and disciplining our minds. He also offered to have one-on-one sessions and during ours we cooked octopus and then ate it. During our week we did a 30 hour fast and on one of our last days four people were baptized!
Next stop was El Olam in Umbumbulu. My first morning I was awoken by monkeys running on the roof! There we worked in two different schools, the Hope Valley and Lily of the Valley, which is an orphanage where three out of four students are HIV positive. It was a very stretching week, but also extremely fun. I really enjoyed working in the classrooms with kids. My very first sociology class was me teaching to a grade ten class made up of students my age all by myself. And I loved it! I had such a great time with the students and I would love to do something like that again. We also went to a traditional Zulu village where we learnt about their culture and how they live.
We then stayed in Pietermaritsburg for two weeks. The first week we went to the Drakensburg, hiked during the days, slept in caves, cooked our food over storm cookers, and played copious amounts of settlers. We also stayed at an old prison in the city where we did service work for them. Our second week we stayed with Indian families and learned about their culture by going to a hindu temple, a islamic mosque, and ate so much curry.
Our third country we visited was Swaziland. We stayed at a back packers hostel in Manzini and went to Guba, a farm where we learnt all about permaculture and plants.
After a few days there, we crossed the boarder back to South Africa and stayed in White River at the African School of Mission where we began our debrief. For debrief everyone must create a 15-20 minute overview of what they have learned and discovered this past year about God, themselves, and the world, then share it with the community. After someone shares, we take time to encourage and pray for them. I really enjoyed this because it really reconnected our community and made us reflect on the past year and begin to process it.
The first day of April we drove to Kruger National Park. We went on a sunrise and sunset safari. I saw a hyena, waterbuffalo, leopards, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, hippos, lots of beautiful birds, warthogs, and so many bok and impalas. It was such a fun time and the scenery was absolutely astounding.
To conclude our time here in South Africa we have made a full circle and are staying back at Heron Bridge in Johannesburg. Here we are finishing up debriefs and fitting in as much community time as we can.
We leave South Africa on April 9th and will arrive in Winnipeg late on Thursday, April 10th. There we will have a graduation ceremony and have some debrief time with our families. I will be going back to Calgary sometime during the next week.
Knowing that home is so close, I am feeling sentimental and unsure. I'm nervous about heading home and reintegrating myself back into my family, friend group, and the North American culture. I'm so heartbroken to say goodbye to my community and the people I have learned to call my family. They will always have a place in my heart. And I'm excited to see the people I left behind and hear about how their year. I know this trip is just the beginning of learning about God, myself, and the world, and I'm so pumped to see the adventures God has in store for me in Canada.
If you want to catch up and here more about my adventures feel free to contact me. I would love to share with you about the awesome time I had traveling both Canada and Southern Africa.
